A butler in attendance beside a lady relaxing on the sofa in the fireplace room

The Salon — Experience VI

A Butler's Care

Quietly attentive to wishes before they are put into words.

Queen's Butler — Definition

About A Butler's Care

A butler's care is time during your stay in which your butler remains at your side, pours your tea, listens, and attends to whatever you wish. Choose from head care, attention to the shoulders, foot care with aromatic oils, a book read aloud, or simple conversation, according to your mood on the day. For lady guests only.

First visit

Even on a first visit, a single word is enough to tell us what you wish

At Queen's Butler, a butler's care means arranging whatever attention is needed so that you may let your shoulders drop, with your butler reading your expression and the tone of your voice. There is no need to decide what to ask for before you arrive.

Once the double doors have opened to welcome you, your butler takes your bags and coat. Whether you go on to the sofa in the fireplace room or to the leather chair in the study is settled by reading your mood. On a day spent alone with few words, or a day of lively conversation, the butler in charge remains in attendance within the Manor all the same.

Both gentlemen and lady butlers are in residence. If you have a preference, please tell us when booking. As what each butler can attend to differs, please also let us know in advance if there is a particular kind of care you have in mind. Any unease about touch or scent, or a wish simply to be quiet, is important information your butler takes at the time of booking.

See the ways to spend time at The Salon

A gentleman and a lady butler bowing side by side

Five considerations

Choose from five kinds of care according to your mood on the day

Head care

Settle deep into the sofa in the fireplace room while your butler first asks how firm a touch you prefer. If you would rather be quiet without conversation, simply say so.

A butler standing beside a guest in the fireplace room

Attention to the shoulders

In the leather chair of the study or on the sofa in the fireplace room, your butler attends to the shoulders. Your clothing and posture are checked, and any places you would rather not be touched are asked about first.

Roses and a wine-red sofa before the fireplace

III

Foot care with aromatic oils

With a foot bath prepared, your feet are attended to before the fire. Before aromatic oils are used, we ask that you check their suitability for your skin in advance.

A guest opening a book in the leather chair of the study, her butler at her side

A book read aloud

Bring a book of your own and your butler will give it voice. Choose wherever you feel most settled: the sofa in the fireplace room, the black leather captain's chair in the study, or beside the bed.

Conversation

Some of our butlers cannot stop once they begin on the tea gardens of the world; some hold firm views on records; some recite poetry. What each does best depends on the butler attending you that day.

A quiet sequence

From the opening of the door to your farewell, your butler watches over every change of mood

A butler welcoming a guest inside the entrance door

Welcome

Your butler bows at the entrance and takes your bags and coat. There is no hurry to decide what you wish; please simply come inside.

Choosing your place

The fireplace room for conversation, the study for quietly opening a book: your butler guides you to the place that suits your mood.

Hearing your wishes

We ask which of the five kinds of care interests you, and confirm your preferences on touch, scent and conversation so that you may be entirely at ease.

Attending to you

Your butler proceeds while checking your wishes. Should your feelings change along the way, please say so there and then.

Lingering

With tea, a book or the light of the fire, take your time. Your butler keeps a suitable distance and answers the silver bell on the table.

The corbeille bed and canopy in the bedroom

Places

The fireplace room and the study each lend the time a different character

The fireplace room	A wine-red velvet sofa, walls of gold damask and a mantelpiece where an electric flame flickers. A place suited to care in which you lean back and rest in quiet.
The study	An English mahogany twin-pedestal desk of the 1980s and a black leather captain's chair in the nineteenth-century English manner. A composed setting suited to reading aloud and conversation.
Beside the bed	A nineteenth-century French corbeille bed. The bed is a training fixture for butler education and may also be used for rest during your stay. If you wish to be read to, your butler remains close by.
Light	The fireplace room has a six-light French chandelier of the 1920s; the study a three-light chandelier of the same period and standing lamps. Your butler adjusts the brightness to suit how you wish to spend the time.

One group, different wishes

Whether alone or in a party of up to six, tell your butler what makes each of you comfortable

A guest quietly reading on the sofa in the fireplace room

One guest

Alone, silence and conversation follow your own pace

Head care before the fire, then a reading in the study: the order may be arranged entirely around your own mood.

Two guests

As a pair, you may spend the time differently in the same room

One of you listening to a reading while the other rests quietly on the sofa: your wishes need not be the same. If you would like to share the conversation, tell your butler.

The desk and chair of the study (photograph of the Manor)

Up to six

For a party of up to six, gather everyone's wishes at booking

When coming as a party of up to six, please let us know at booking what interests each of you, whether a reading, conversation or foot care.

At booking: the kind of care you wish for, and how you would most like to spend the time
At booking: any preference for a gentleman or a lady butler
At booking: any concern about the use of aromatic oils
On the day: places you would rather not be touched, scents, and whether you wish to converse
To bring: the book you would like read aloud, and clothing in which you can relax in the Manor

What your butler must decline

This is not a medical or therapeutic treatment
Before aromatic oils are used, we ask that you check their suitability for your skin in advance
Requests beyond the scope of a butler's duties, or that compromise the dignity of the butler, are respectfully declined

Choose your time

Deciding how you wish to spend the time makes it easier to choose the length of your stay

The dining room: yew table and chairs beneath the chandelier

How to spend the time	Suited to the mood	What to tell your butler
Resting quietly before the fire	When you wish to say little and give yourself over to soft light	Wishes for head or foot care; any unease about scent or touch
Listening to a voice in the study	When you wish to enjoy a book read aloud, with tea between the pages	The book you would like, how far to read, and whether to converse
Talking while admiring the furnishings	When you wish to hear your butler's favourite subjects and the stories of the Manor	The furnishings and topics that interest you; the moments you would like kept quiet
Combining several	When you wish to move between places and kinds of care as your mood changes	Tell us your priorities at booking and settle the order with your butler on the day

Rather than dividing the time into fixed portions, your butler arranges the order within your stay as a whole. The butlers able to attend are limited in number.

Butler's judgment

Your butler listens as closely to silence as to words

A butler's attentiveness means never presuming to decide your wishes in advance, but confirming them in your own words before acting. When a book is closed, or a pause in conversation lengthens, your butler asks about tea or the light. When a wish is hard to put into words, a few places and ways of spending the time are offered.

Queen's Butler is operated by the Japan Butler Association. Our butlers value not only their bearing but your wishes and their own dignity alike. There are moments when a butler must say, "I regret that I cannot." That, too, is honest service, so that both of us may spend the hours of the Manor at ease.

For one guest, the time is arranged around the amount of conversation and the place you prefer. For two or more, each wish is heard: one listening to a reading, another resting quietly before the fire. The Salon receives one party of up to six, and the Manor is never let unattended. Whatever the number, the butler in charge remains within the Manor and arranges the order of the whole stay.

QOn a first visit, may I decide what to ask for on the day?

Yes. Your butler guides you while reading your mood on the day. If you have a particular kind of care in mind, please also mention it at booking, as the butlers able to attend are limited.

QMay I ask for a lady butler?

Both lady and gentleman butlers are in residence. If you have a preference, we take it at booking, check availability and let you know.

QMay I spend the time without aromatic oils?

Yes. Aromatic oils are not assumed. Before they are used, please check their suitability for your skin in advance and tell your butler of any concern.

QDo I need to tell you about my health?

Please let us know at booking and on the day of any concern relating to touch or scent. This is not a medical or therapeutic treatment, so your butler confirms what can be attended to.

QMay I bring a book to be read aloud?

You may. If you have wishes about which passages to read or the pace of the voice, please tell your butler. We ask that you keep any precious book in your own care.

QMay I spend the time quietly, without conversation?

Of course. Your butler keeps a suitable distance, and even when asking about tea or the light, takes care not to disturb the quiet.

About a butler's thoughtfulness

Only some of our butlers offer this. If you would like it, please tell us when you book
This is not a medical or therapeutic treatment
Before aromatherapy oils are used, we ask that you check your skin's sensitivity
Requests beyond a butler's duties, or that would compromise a butler's dignity, are respectfully declined